Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Birmingham, I note that you are only the minister acting in this portfolio at the moment, so there will be elements of this which I understand you may have to check in and get back to us on, and I note that we have only 10 minutes left until the adjournment debate. Perhaps we will not get the opportunity to get to the end of a lot of these matters, and I suspect that Senator Cormann will be dealing with this for a little while longer.

One of the criticisms that has been made is that the Abbott-Turnbull governments committed us to a timetable which sees Australia lag behind most of the OECD and other advanced economies. More than 40 countries will begin exchanging information on individuals in 2017. Is my understanding correct that this legislation does not bring this system into effect until after those countries have already begun reporting?